Jeremy Clarkson: Hated by liberals, loved by the elite

Updated 1834 GMT (0234 HKT) March 11, 2015

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Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May pose with the award for Most Popular Factual Programme at the UK's National Television Awards 2007. Syndicated in 214 countries and with an audience in excess of 350 million, it is the most viewed factual show in the world. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

No strangers to wild publicity stunts, the Top Gear team crossed London's Tower Bridge on a tank in 2008 to promote their live show. SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images

Clarkson drives an Aston Martin 300km northwest of Bucharest while filming Top Gear in 2009. ANA POENARIU/AFP/Getty Images

Sun newspaper editor Dominic Mohan and Jeremy Clarkson leave St Paul's Cathedral after former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's ceremonial funeral in London in 2013. LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

The hounds of the Heythrop Hunt arrive to greet hunt supporters in Chipping Norton. Clarkson lives in the Cotswolds village, not far from the home of his friend, UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

David Cameron and his wife Samantha stop for a drink in a pub during the 2010 general election. Chipping Norton lies within Cameron's constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire. KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/AFP/Getty Images

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks outside her Chipping Norton home. Along with Clarkson, Cameron she is part of the so-called "Chipping Norton Set." Rob Stothard / Getty Images

Musician Alex James of the band Blur performs Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The Chipping Norton resident is also an avid cheese maker, and enlisted celebrity friends such as Jamie Oliver to help out with The Big Feastival, an annual fair held in the village. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella

Chipping Norton resident Elisabeth Murdoch, pictured with her father media mogul Rupert Murdoch, on a balcony overlooking horse racing at Cheltenham in 2010. ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images